Shark bites Georgia lawyer during morning swim

By Polly Powers Stramm

Tuesday

Jun 18, 2019 at 5:05 PMJun 18, 2019 at 5:05 PM

A Savannah, Ga., personal injury attorney recovering from a weekend shark bite is enduring a boatload of lawyer/shark jokes from colleagues and friends, and he is grateful that his injuries weren’t more serious.

Gene Brooks was swimming in the Wilmington River on Sunday when a shark sunk its teeth into his upper right arm and chest, resulting in 23 stitches.

“It scared me, but I feel real lucky,” Brooks said, a day after the run-in with the shark. “It didn’t hit muscle, bone or blood vessels so I’m good to go.”

Brooks, who has practiced law for more than 35 years, insists that the shark is not guilty of a personal attack. He has lived on the water for 28 years and has had no previous problem with sharks.

“I don’t think it was trying to get me because it didn’t get a good bite,” he said. “I think there were probably other fish around that it was after.”

Brooks had been in the water “not even five minutes” when he felt a “pow,” raised his arm and saw the teeth marks and a small amount of blood. He said the incident occurred about 9:30 a.m. after he got in to wake up after a late Saturday night. No doubt, he was wide awake after the shark nibbled on him for breakfast.

Brooks never saw the shark, but plenty of people have weighed in on social media with theories about the type of shark after a picture of his wound was posted to alert those who frequent local waterways.

“I don’t think it was a bull or tiger shark. It was possibly a smaller shark,” he said. Fishermen friends have told him that they have caught huge sharks in nearby Wassaw Sound.

Doctors estimated that the shark probably was 4 to 6 feet long.

The fish story is one Brooks certainly can tell for years to come.

“It all happened so fast. I was about 20 feet away from the dock when it hit me,” he recalled. “I felt like I got punched, which is what I’ve always heard a shark does. I hollered and skedaddled over to my boat, which was tied to the dock. I pulled the ladder down and climbed in.”

Brooks hurried into his house where his wife, a former registered nurse, tended to the wounds. They drove to the emergency department at Memorial Health University Medical Center where doctors and other personnel treated the wounds. He was seen right away and greeted with curiosity, he said.

“One of the nurses was from Honolulu, so she was familiar with shark bites, but the others weren’t,” he said, adding that several people snapped pictures of the bite.

A picture on social media shows Brooks bandaged up, smiling and holding a Landshark beer provided by a neighbor. With apologies to singer Jimmy Buffet, he saw no fins to the left or fins to the right. He’s taking the lawyer jokes in stride.

Brooks said the shark bite won’t keep him out of the water, but is taking precautionary measures. His daughter has ordered a bracelet for him that has an electronic pulse in it that repels sharks.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.